Thursday Night League Pass Picks: Charlotte Hornets at Orlando Magic

Charlotte at Orlando

Time: 6 PM CT (NBA LP)

Spread: ORL -3

Total: 215.5

Odds c/o 5dimes

The Orlando Magic are heating up. Orlando has won six of its last seven games and now hosts Charlotte in a critical game. The Hornets lead Orlando in the standings by just two-games and are seeded No. 7 in the East. Orlando trails No. 8 Detroit by just one game. The Magic are 3-point favorites in this clash according to NBA oddsmakers at bookmaker 5dimes.

ORL TEAM NOTES:

The Orlando Magic might finally be turning the corner after six long-suffering seasons since the departure of former three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Dwight Howard. The team has gone through four coaches, but it finally found its man in Steve Clifford. Clifford said prior to the season if he could manage to coach the Magic to a top-10 defensive rating the team would make the playoffs. The Magic have done just that: It is now ranked No. 10 in defensive rating and knocking on the door of postseason contention.

Instrumental in all this has been the play of All-Star center Nikola Vucevic. “Vooch” is in a contract year and will be a free agent that many teams will covet after this season. With Orlando grooming Mo Bamba (but also with him being nowhere near ready for big minutes), it will be a matter of intrigue to see what the front office decides to do with regard to Vucevic. Ostensibly, he has been the primary reason for Orlando’s successes this season, but the Magic are still not deluded enough to discard the idea that the team is rebuilding. Bamba has shown flashes, but he needs to add a lot of bulk to match up with NBA centers. His shot blocking is a skill that is always useful, but he often looks confused on offense. Right now? He is sitting out with a stress fracture, though it is not expected to require surgery.

Outside of Vucevic, Aaron Gordon has become more consistent, and Terrence Ross is probably the chic pick for Sixth Man of the Year as a total flamethrower who has bailed out the Magic on numerous occasions during scoring droughts. Ross, too, is a free agent after this season. The Magic might look promising now, but it is a team that will have many decisions to make.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Issac and Wesley Iwundu are blossoming in their sophomore seasons. Isaac had an 18-point first half in the Magic’s most recent victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. He finished with 20 points and three blocks, displaying the two-way dominance that the Magic thought he would when it selected him No. 6 overall out of Florida State.

Iwundu’s contributions tend to be often intangible, but Clifford rightly dubbed Wesley the team’s best perimeter defender and he should have a long career if only because of his energy and defensive talents. The Magic are really rounding into shape, and once the team upgrades its point guard position from DJ Augustin, it really might be a middle-tier contender. That is all ignoring the fact that the future point guard may already be in tow: Markelle Fultz was acquired from the 76ers and should debut soon.

CHARLOTTE TEAM NOTES:

The Charlotte Hornets are 27-29 on the season and 8-20 on the road. The Hornets have been good at home and poor on the road, but the most stinging fact about this team is that it is firmly engaged in NBA limbo. The Hornets are having trouble cracking .500 but are also saddled with poor contracts that will give the team almost no flexibility in the free agent market this summer.

The Hornets have lost three of its last four and are quickly sliding out of the playoff picture with Orlando creeping up and red-hot. It is only fitting that the teams collide tonight in a game that has vast importance both from a statement-standpoint and also for seeding.

The Hornets are a team built around Kemba Walker, but there is also a high probability that Walker ends up in New York or elsewhere, soon. Walker is averaging 25.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game this season, but there seems to be little room for improvement on that given the Hornets lack of major scoring options outside of Walker.

Charlotte still averages 111.2 points per game as a team, but there are no real sources of major improvement available. Ideally, Malik Monk would have stepped up as the No. 2 option, but he has struggled in his second season and is averaging just 10.2 points per game.

That was not the level of production most assumed he would provide after dominating at the NCAA level. Perhaps Monk just does not fit well with Walker, but he has made a number of “boneheaded” plays that draw into question his ability to make sound offensive decisions. It is almost a microcosm of Hornets basketball over the past several seasons. The team has improved since its Bobcat days, but it is still hardly worthy of harkening the memory of 1990s classic Hornets teams (Yes, that was an unnecessary digression).

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